To get the most from this chapter, it would be useful to have a working knowledge of your organization’s strategy and values and understand the goals and the business case for the purchase of Sales Cloud.

The information you discover and define relating to the content of this chapter, such as defining implementation goals and scope, can be captured in standard business tools such as word processing and spreadsheet tools. Where your organization has project management tools, you may start to capture the overall implementation vision using these.

The role and expectations of the teams that generate sales, also known as the commercial function, are continually evolving. While there is always an expectation to deliver increases in revenue year on year, ways of working and customers’ expectations also change. Technology and macro social and economic factors are also having a big impact. Customers are looking for personalized one-to-one relationships and are more intentional about how they spend their money, meaning sales teams have to be able to demonstrate value.

The 2020 pandemic forced many sales teams to rapidly find alternative ways of working. It took away the majority of in-person interactions, forcing organizations to quickly try and find ways to connect to customers online. Those who already had the working practices and technology had an advantage. Salespeople who built relationships in person at meetings and events needed to adopt a different approach. While the overwhelming desire in society has been to get back to in-person interactions and activities, there are some aspects of the new ways of working that people appreciate and want to continue with. For some people, working from home had benefits such as less time and money spent on commuting and more time spent with family or on leisure activities. Some people made big life changes by moving to new homes with office space and more rural locations. Equally, some organizations realized that they could conduct business without having to spend so much time and money on travel.

This enforced a global shift to working from home that proved that it was possible, although there are differences in opinion with regard to productivity. For some workers, it has meant they don’t want to go back. For sales, this means they have to be prepared to build relationships with people both in person and remotely. So, organizations have been able to do this really well, which has raised the bar further for those who are just starting their journey.

Another significant disruptor is generative artificial intelligence (AI). Following the impact of ChatGPT, we are seeing all organizations talking about how they might incorporate artificial intelligence into their ways of working to gain competitive advantage. Although this dominates conversations, most organizations are still at the early stages of understanding the potential and the implications and deciding where to incorporate it. There are questions to answer and decisions to be made to ensure that organizations receive the benefits without unintended consequences or bias.

Salesforce has announced several exciting AI features in recent months, and I am sure there will be many more. As it is early in their release, they are not widely adopted at this point. Those who are more mature in their AI journey will start to explore the benefits of these. Most organizations are still considering what these technological advancements mean for them. To capitalize on the benefits of AI, it is essential to have a volume of accurate, relevant, connected data that AI can learn from. In this book, we will not be focusing on the new AI tools as they are rapidly evolving, but we will focus on how you can implement Sales Cloud with an appropriate data model and quality data so you can connect it to other data sources and layer appropriate AI tools over the top when your organization is ready to adopt those at scale.

Next, we will explore some of the sales function-specific challenges that sales teams and leaders experience. This is not an exhaustive list but will give you an understanding of the types of challenges you might hear about.

Managing the sales pipeline

Pipeline management is the activity of managing the detailed steps in the sales process; understanding what has happened and what needs to happen next to move the deal to a close. The sales pipeline shows the status of a prospective deal at a given time. By inspecting the pipeline, a sales leader can see how many deals have been made by each salesperson and what their values are. They should also be able to see what prospect stakeholders are involved, what activities and meetings have taken place and what emails have been sent, and what the next steps are.

In addition to seeing where the pipeline is at any given time, leaders also want to know how it has changed compared to last week or last month. This allows them to take action if any negative trends are seen, such as the pipeline reducing in value or the close dates of deals being pushed out.

It is common for sales leaders to want more visibility on what is happening in the pipeline and for it to be up-to-date and accurate at any given time. Sales Cloud enables this by providing the functionality to record activities and the people involved, as well as offering a Pipeline Inspection view that gives a summary and comparison of what has changed, which we will learn about in Chapter 3 – Design and Build: The Core Sales Process. Integrations with other business tools also streamline the logging of activities, which will we look at in swsw, Common System Integrations.

Forecasting accuracy

Forecasting is the process of predicting value or the number of sales that will be achieved at a given point in time, usually by month or quarter. This number becomes a commitment to the business in terms of how much revenue will be generated, which also has an impact on the business in planning spending commitments. For example, organizations plan what they can spend on marketing or if they can hire additional people depending on the revenue forecast. Failure to achieve the revenue predicted means that cuts need to be made or plans need to be downgraded. This also had wider implications when the organization is publicly traded or when the business has been backed by investment. Forecasting is a fundamental and essential part of business planning. The accuracy of the forecast impacts the whole organization.

Sales Cloud has both specific Forecasting functionalities and Report and Dashboard functionalities for further analysis. It also enables the setup and enforcement of a consistent sales process so that data is consistently recorded by all. The forecasting functionality has features to allow leaders to view different people’s forecasts and quickly drill into the records. This allows leaders to see exactly what makes up the forecast and make manual adjustments based on their judgment so that they are confident in the forecast they commit to. We learn about Analyzing and visualizing data – Reports and Dashboards in Chapter 5.

Increasing sales productivity

All organizations welcome improvements in productivity. It would be unusual to find a commercial leader who wouldn’t want their teams to be more effective. Productivity can be increased by automating tasks such as logging data and notifying colleagues or providing them with relevant information, making it easier for team members to collaborate.

Sales Cloud offers many ways to increase productivity. Creating a single source of truth for commercial dates means Users know that they are working with and making decisions on the most up-to-date data. Stream and automate the logging of activities such as calls, emails, and meetings, automate the creation of records and notifications, and capture who is collaborating together on sales deals and in organizations to increase efficiency. We learn about setting up an appropriate data model and recording Opportunity and Account Teams in Chapter 3, Design and Build: The Core Sales Process. We review all the ways you can create a great user experience, including automation, in Chapter 5, Design and Build: Sales User Productivity.

Achieving sales and marketing alignment

Another common challenge that so many organizations face is creating alignment between sales and marketing. This refers to the role that marketing has in generating sales prospects, what determines that they have shown enough interest to a salesperson to take over, and how that handover is carried out.

Sales Cloud can assist with this as the sales prospects, Leads, resulting sales deals, and Opportunities can be tracked in one system. This means that it is possible to track a prospect all the way through its lifecycle. Ownership can be tracked and changed to capture the handover, as well as rules and guidance that support the way of working to successfully transition a prospect. With this reporting functionality, managers can assess the performance of the process. We learn about lead generation in Chapter 4, Design and Build: The Lead Generation Process.

Selling to buying groups

The buying group is the group of people who influence whether an organization makes a purchase. Particularly in a business-to-business setting or when there’s a purchase of a significant value, there can be a number of people involved in assessing the suitability or approving a purchase. For this reason, salespeople have to be able to successfully engage with multiple people.

Sales Cloud provides the functionality to be able to capture every person a salesperson interacts with and specify the role they have in the buying unit. Having this documented makes it easier to see the overall picture, create a plan, and gain the support of others. We learn about Contacts and Opportunity Contact Roles in Chapter 3 – Design and Build: The Core Sales Process.

Enabling sales teams

Enabling sales teams with the knowledge, tools, and materials they need to service prospects and achieve their targets is another challenge organizations look to solve. Sales Cloud with a level of customization for specific needs will provide the tooling. In Chapter 2, Defining the Approach, we learn about the importance of the role that Change Management has in ensuring Users are prepared to use Sales Cloud. In Chapter 5 – Design and Build: Sales User Productivity, we learn about functionalities such as Sales Path and In-App Guidance and provide users with guidance on what they need to do right when they need to do it.

The examples given here are just a few of the examples of how Sales Cloud provides solutions for common sales challenges. In the next section, we will explore why it is important that you understand how your Sales Cloud implementation aligns with and enables your company strategy and values.

In this section, we will explore why it is important to not only focus on the details of your Sales Cloud implementation but also to ensure that your delivery and solution align with your company strategy, goals, and values. Ultimately, you want your Salesforce strategy to align with your company strategy; the former should enable the latter. This sounds quite obvious, but when the implementation team gets into the details, it can be easy for the focus to deviate. In some cases, it is also possible that the Sales Cloud implementation team doesn’t have visibility of how what they’re building contributes to delivering the company strategy. This can easily happen if the implementation is being delivered by an external supplier. When your Salesforce strategy aligns with your organization’s strategy, you can expect that Sales Cloud will help you achieve your goals sooner and you will be able to demonstrate how it is doing that.

The first step in developing alignment is to understand your company’s strategies, goals, and values. For example, your organization might have a goal of reducing operational costs or it might have transparency or collaboration as a value. Once these are understood, the next step is to determine how the Sales Cloud implementation supports these. For example, you might be looking to reduce the time, the number of steps, or the number of clicks required to complete a process to gain operational efficiency, you might implement an open data-sharing model to ensure transparency across the organization, or you might deliver collaboration functionalities in early releases to show commitment to them.

It is highly likely that the benefits expected by the Sales Cloud implementation are aligned with business goals, or else the purchase would not have been approved in the first place. During the implementation, it is essential not to lose sight of what we promised, as this is how success will be judged.

It is worth remembering that companies are made up of people, and companies only achieve their goals when people work together. While diversity of thought can be a strategic advantage, it is also essential that people pull in the same direction to achieve company goals.

Achieving business alignment

To achieve business alignment internally, Salesforce uses a process called V2MOM, which stands for Vision, Value, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures. Everyone in the organization completes a V2MOM, which aligns so that every person understands how their actions contribute to the overall goal. Salesforce provides information on why and how to create a V2MOM on their public learning platform, Trailhead. You can find links to this information in the Further reading section.

To achieve a successful implementation, everyone on the project, and the stakeholders, should understand what the implementation is trying to achieve and how their role contributes.

There are a number of steps that can be taken to help achieve this: communicate the goals of the implementation regularly to all stakeholders, bring stakeholders on the journey by including them in defining requirements and requesting feedback, and train and support users so they both understand the value and can perform the tasks asked of them. We explore how you can do these in subsequent chapters in this book, starting in Chapter 2 – Defining the Approach.

To ensure the focus throughout an implementation is on the overall goals, it is common to have regular steering committee meetings to keep track of progress, make decisions, connect to the business, access additional budget, and get commitment from other areas of the business. Depending on the scale of the implementation, these meetings happen weekly or monthly and include senior members of the organization, typically the executive sponsor and senior members of the implementation team.

These meetings ensure that any issues or decisions can be identified early and appropriate actions can be taken. One of the benefits of having a clear vision is that it makes prioritization easier. It is worth noting that some stakeholders may be personally invested in the success of the implementation, as it either has an impact on their role or their reputation.

For example, if your organization prides itself on transparency, then you will probably find your data model will be quite open, allowing people to view most records. If your client confidentiality is core to your business, you are likely to have a private model with restrictions on who can see what data. If collaboration is important, the functionality to enable it must be delivered in early releases to show commitment to it.

Salesforce Strategy Designer Certification

Salesforce understands that the success of its solutions is dependent on how they contribute to an organization’s overall success. Salesforce provides services to clients to help them achieve alignment using strategy design tools and techniques. To help organizations achieve this, they have developed a curriculum and certification to teach and validate an understanding of strategy design. This certification is called Salesforce Strategy Designer. You can find details of the certification on Trailhead along with resources to learn about this topic. There are links to these resources in the Further reading session.

In the next section, we explore the concept of adoption and its role in a successful Sales Cloud implementation.

In this section, we explore what we mean by adoption and why it is important for the success of your Sales Cloud implementation. First, let’s explore what we mean by adoption.

What is adoption?

In the context of a business application, adoption is a measure of whether Users are logging in and using a system, such as Sales Cloud. There are a number of metrics to measure this, the simplest being the percentage of people who have access and are logging in on a regular basis, (i.e., daily, weekly, or monthly). Another approach is to measure activities in the system, for example, record creation or processes completed. In a sales context, this might be the number of companies and people entered (Accounts and Contacts) or calls, meetings, and emails logged (Events and Tasks). These can be tracked as the overall totals to show the overall usage of the system; however, these can also be used as a measure of individual adoption and performance. It can be common to measure the number of meetings booked as a measure of individual performance and future sales performance. The trade on this type of metric can be used to determine how well the system is being adopted, how easy it is for people to perform the tasks asked, and if the implementation of the system is realizing the benefits promised.

It is at the organization’s discretion which measures it uses. The measures and the focus that is put on these will determine Users’ behaviors. A mix of these measures can be used to determine if the system is a living breathing asset to the organization that people want to use or if it is simply ornamental.

In addition to usage, you can also consider adoption as the proportion of the capability you are using. Sales Cloud has a lot of functionalities, which increase with every release. Increasing the functionalities used is another way to derive additional value.

To get the maximum value, consider Salesforce as an additional member of the team. As you would with any team member, regularly review its performance to see if it can take on additional responsibilities and deliver more value. A natural interval to review performance would be helpful but around the time of the new functionality releases. This is a really good time to review what is being released to see if there is a new update that addresses requested system improvements or allows a new process and Users to be brought onto the platform. Salesforce provides a lot of content about its releases in multiple formats. This included Release Notes, Release Readiness webinars, and a Release Readiness Collaboration Group on Trailhead. You can find links to these resources in the Further reading section.

Salesforce releases

Salesforce releases functionalities three times per year. They are the winter, spring, and summer releases, and they happen in September, February, and June, respectively. There is no Fall release. Releases are rolled out over a weekend by Salesforce, so you do not need to be involved or schedule the release. It is worth noting that this happens in the maintenance window that Salesforce specifies. You can’t influence or delay these. Where changes are carried out that might have an impact on your setup, Salesforce will communicate these in advance. You can review changes of this type in Setup > Release Updates. For updates that might have an impact, it is typical for Salesforce to make these available for you to turn on when you choose before mandating the update. The month before each release, Salesforce upgrades sandboxes to allow you to test that you will not see any impact and also test any new functionalities so you can use them in your Production Org as soon as they become available. It is important to know when the release window is and factor that into when you release your functionality so one doesn’t impact the other. We explore planning your deployment in Chapter 10, Deployment Planning.

Now that we understand what adoption is, we will learn why it is important.

Why is adoption important for Sales Cloud success?

Adoption is important because it takes every member of the sales team to deliver sales objectives and targets. The benefits that systems such as Sales Cloud offer can only be realized if they are used consistently by all those who deliver the processes they are designed to enable.

If a small group, or even just one person, doesn’t see the value in using it, doesn’t know how to use it, or just doesn’t want to use it, it means that for some, the data or activities are not complete. Worse, they might revert to a spreadsheet or other system to perform their tasks, sometimes referred to as a shadow system. This means a system such as Sales Cloud isn’t truly the source of truth for a type of data. Users might start to question the information the system holds and decide they would prefer to work in an alternative way of their choosing too.

To get the full benefits from a centralized system, such as a complete and accurate view of customers, an improved customer experience, greater efficiency, and greater collaboration, the data needs to be complete and accurate, and everyone has to be engaged and play their part.

As we learned in the section Alignment with company strategy and values, the success of your implementation and Sales Cloud overall depends on how well what you deliver aligns with what and how a company plans to achieve its goals.

In the next section, we learn what gets in the way of adoption and what you can do to prevent these things from happening.

Barriers to adoption

We have established that adoption is an essential component in achieving return on investment (ROI). However, in real-world implementation, there are a number of situations that can arise that create barriers to adoption. The following are some scenarios to watch out for and suggestions on how to mitigate them:

• Not engaging with users during the design and build: This means that Users’ voices and needs are not heard during the time they can influence the build. This introduces the risk that the system may not deliver what Users need. It also means that Users feel no attachment or ownership of the system and may decide it is not for them. To avoid this, have User representation present in requirement-gathering sessions and sessions for going over what has been built so feedback can be incorporated.
• Not enough supporting and training users: This means Users are not provided with enough of the training they need to understand what is expected of them and how to do it. To avoid this, engage with your training team if you have one and develop a plan for training that is appropriate for your users. We explore the role and options for training in Chapters 2 and 8.
• Leadership not engaged with the system: This means that Users are not seeing their leaders also adopt the system, and they may possibly request that information be provided outside of Sales Cloud. To avoid this, ensure that senior leaders lead by example. Examples include running regular sales and pipeline meetings with Sales Cloud on the screen, asking deal owners to talk about the next steps and check that information is up to date, and adopting the philosophy “If it isn’t in Salesforce it doesn’t exist”.
• Not measuring Adoption: This means that the level of adoption is not known, so high adoption is not being celebrated and low adoption is not being addressed. To avoid this, track some adoption metrics such as those that we stated in What is adoption. If lower levels of adoption are observed, then the root causes can be identified by talking to users and understanding their issues or barriers; and then creating a plan to address them. That might include additional training or system changes.
• Not having an ongoing maintenance and improvement plan: This means that there is no one to listen to Users’ issues or change the system as processes evolve and new ways of working come about. It also means new functionality is not being used to ensure RIO year on year. To avoid this, someone should be identified to own and administer Sales Cloud. As a minimum, they or your IT teams should support Users with their day-to-day issues, including troubleshooting login problems and reporting issues. They should capture User requests, review the new functionalities in each release, and make recommendations to leaders when updates would be beneficial.

These barriers usually arise because the value of the activities and the impact of not doing them are not appreciated. The scenarios explored here are not an exhaustive list, but they do occur relatively frequently. We don’t cover day-to-day administration and maintenance in this book, but it is important to understand that the implementation is the start of the journey.

In the next section, we consider how your individual approach to an implementation can have a positive impact on the outcome.

What is your approach?

As the leader or a member of the implementation team, you can influence how successful it is; no matter what your role, you can make a real impact. It is important to remember that all Sales Cloud implementations are about providing a system that helps people serve the needs of other people. How you approach your role in the implementation will influence the outcome. The following are some suggestions on approaches you can adopt that will have a positive impact.

• Collaboration: Embrace and encourage collaboration with all stakeholders, as encouraging diverse points of view results in a solution that serves a wider audience. It is important to bring Users on the journey, and the later important information is discovered, the more complicated and expensive it is to incorporate.
• Empathy: Put yourself in the position of the stakeholders you are serving. Most people come to work to do a good job, so when they share their challenges, it is important to listen and try to find solutions, as this is more likely to result in a solution that internal stakeholders will use. It also builds cooperation and trust.
• Build trust: Build trust with your internal stakeholders by being sure to do what you say you are going to do, listen and understand their requirements, and then play back the functionalities that deliver them. Building trust from the start provides a strong foundation, which is beneficial if more difficult conversations or decisions are necessary later in the implementation.
• Become an internal salesperson: Part of your role will be to persuade, and effectively sell, the functionality you are building to business stakeholders. You can learn from the information that sales stakeholders are providing about selling and apply it when selling the Sales Cloud implementation to them. For example, this could be the format they use to communicate, the language they use, and how they handle objections.

In Chapter 2 – Defining the Approach, we will learn how you define the approach to your implementation, which includes aspects such as selecting a development methodology and exploring Change Management and training. Many of the topics in that chapter expand on what we have learned in this one.

In this final section, we will explore another essential component: scope.

In this section, we will consider what we mean by scope, why it is important to clearly define at the very beginning of your Sales Cloud implementation project, and the importance of managing this throughout the life of the project. Let’s start by understanding what we mean by scope.

What is scope?

The scope of work defines what is included and, ideally, you would also state what isn’t. Defining the scope of work is a very important step in defining a piece of work, like a project, that will be carried out. Having a documented scope makes it easier for those working on the project to understand what they should and should be working on, it sets boundaries. This helps with overall alignment with the company goals which we talked about in the Aligning company strategy and values section.

It is common to get key stakeholders to sign off. In Chapter 7, Getting Sign-off, we look at getting formal sign-off as a method of confirming that stakeholders understand and agree to what is and isn’t in scope. Sign-off is also involved for scope changes, in the form of change requests.

Defining the scope

Defining the scope of your Sales Cloud implementation project is an essential first step. This typically happens during the Sales Cloud purchasing process or directly after the decision to purchase Sales Cloud. This early definition means allowing for the hopes and aspirations of the sales process to be captured.

The scope will typically include the business functions business processes, and the teams. For example, sales and marketing, the sales and lead generation process, and US and European sales teams. It matters less how it is written, and more that the stakeholders affected understand what it means. If your organization has a standardized way of defining project scopes you should follow that format. Wherever possible you should aim to avoid ambiguity or areas for interpretation. Although not always included it can be very valuable to include what isn’t going to be included. This might include data from specific systems, automating complex processes that are carried out infrequently, or certain groups of Users. Explicitly stating these means that anyone who wasn’t expecting these exclusions can raise their concerns earlier so the reasoning can be explained or they can be brought into scope.

Now we will learn about the role of managing scope in delivering a successful implementation.

Managing scope

Throughout the duration of the implementation, it is important to manage the scope of the work. During the life of an implementation, things change; for example, business conditions or team members change. Also, Stakeholders’ expectations can easily expand to features, functions, and capabilities that are not in the original plan. This often happens as people become more familiar with Sales Cloud capabilities and imagine how they can help them. It is also common for those working on the implementation to want to add extras they think will help Users and improve the end solution, even though they are outside the gathered requirements.

Deviating from the original scope is known as scope creep. This leads to increases in costs, as these are spent on delivery functionalities but not on what was agreed or what the business expected.

In practice, managing scope means listening to the requests that come in from stakeholders, but before agreeing to deliver them, comparing them to the original scope to ensure actioning them is an appropriate use of resources. Where requirements are in scope, they can be actioned. Where they aren’t, or where it is unclear, it should be communicated to the requester that they might not be in scope but will be captured and assessed. The requests and requirements should be logged in a backlog and brought to the attention of an individual or team of business stakeholders who can assess them in terms of business importance. This assessment might be carried out by a steering committee, which we introduced in the Alignment with company strategy and values section, or a Product Owner, who we will describe in more detail in the next chapter, Chapter 2, Defining the Approach. Where it is agreed that a change should happen, the scope should be changed, and the change should be signed off by the relevant stakeholders. If there are any external suppliers involved, this sort of change may require a contractual change, even if there is not an increase in effort or cost.

In summary, defining and managing the scope of your Sales Cloud implementation is an essential part of securing success. Even if you are not responsible for the overall scope of the implementation, you can still play an important part in ensuring that what is delivered is within the agreed scope.

At the beginning of this chapter, we started by exploring how the expectations of sales have changed, some of the common challenges sales leaders and teams face, and how Sales Cloud can help solve these. We moved on to learn about the importance of aligning your Salesforce strategy, goals, and values with your company’s and how failure to do this can prevent you from being able to demonstrate overall implementation success.

We went on to define what is meant by adoption when it comes to business applications and how Users’ willingness to use the system determines if they succeed or fail. We also explored some of the common barriers to adoption and how to address them.

Finally, we learned about scope and the importance of clearly defining this at the beginning of an implementation and then managing it throughout to ensure your implementation doesn’t deviate too far from the original expectation. We learned that scope creep can be a reason why implementations run over time and budget expectations and result in you not delivering the original benefits promised.

In the next chapter, we will learn about the decisions you need to make and define how you approach your implementation. This includes your implementation delivery methodology, what environments you use, how you test what you’ve built, and how you prepare your Users to adopt the system.

Trailhead:

• What is Trailhead?:

  https://www.salesforce.com/blog/what-is-trailhead/

V2MOM:

• Organizational Alignment (V2MOM):

  https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/manage_the_sfdc_organizational_alignment_v2mom

Salesforce Strategy Designer:

• Trailhead: Salesforce Strategy Designer: About the exam:

  https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/credentials/strategydesigner

Adoption:

• Adoption Metrics – Trailhead:

  https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/user-adoption-metrics/measure-salesforce-usage

Preparing for a Salesforce Release:

• Release Notes:

  https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.salesforce_release_notes.htm&language=en_US&release=248&type=5

• Release Readiness webinars:

  https://www.salesforce.com/plus/experience/release_readiness_live

• Release Readiness Collaboration Group on Trailhead:

  https://trailhead.salesforce.com/trailblazer-community/groups/0F9300000001okuCAA?tab=discussion&sort=LAST_MODIFIED_DATE_DESC#

Alignment with Company Strategy:

• Trailhead: Alignment as a strategic craft:

  https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/alignment-as-a-strategic-craft